Crimes

Type of Villain

Brainwashing Terrorist

“

The Screenslaver interrupts this program for an important announcement. Don't bother watching the rest. Elastigirl doesn't save the day; she only postpones her defeat. And while she postpones her defeat, you eat chips and watch her invert problems that you are too lazy to deal with. Superheroes are part of your brainless desire to replace true experience with simulation. You don't talk, you watch talk shows. You don't play games, you watch game shows. Travel, relationships, risk; every meaningful experience must be packaged and delivered to you to watch at a distance so that you can remain ever-sheltered, ever-passive, ever-ravenous consumers who can't free themselves to rise from their couches, break a sweat, and participate in life. You want superheroes to protect you, and make yourselves ever more powerless in the process. While you tell yourselves you're being "looked after". That your interests are being served and your rights are being upheld. So that the system can keep stealing from you, smiling at you all the while. Go ahead, send your supers to stop me. Grab your snacks, watch your screens, and see what happens. You are no longer in control. I am.

„

~ The Screenslaver's speech.

“

You are good.

„

~ Evelyn revealing her true colors and that SHE is the true Screenslaver

Evelyn Deavor, also known as the Screenslaver, is the main antagonist of Pixar's 20th full-length animated feature film Incredibles 2. She is the sister of Winston Deavor and the Co-CEO of DevTech, who is bent on destroying the reputation of supers and preventing them from becoming legal again.

She was voiced by Catherine Keener, who also portrayed Missy Armitage in Get Out, whereas the brainwashed pizza man under the false alias Screenslaver was voiced by Bill Wise, who also voiced Richard Guyot in Guyver: The Bioboosted Armor.

Contents

Personality

“

Ah shucks, I'm just the genius behind the genius.

„

~ A quote said by Evelyn Deavor hinting at her being the villain.

Evelyn appears to be loyal, kindhearted and caring and is eager to help others. She is also shown to be a brilliant and intelligent character. However, she is often laid-back, as she seems unworried of anything. She encourages her brother to keep on making heroes protect the world at whatever cost. However, despite being helpful, she also seems to be really strict and always takes things really seriously.

It would later turn out to be all a fabric of her true nature: a vengeful, cunning, hateful, mean-spirited, cold-hearted and ruthless person who would do anything to rid the world of all things super (and to avenge the deaths of her parents) as she sees them as making people weak and unable to save themselves from other threats.

Despite this, Evelyn does have redeeming qualities, such as her caring about her father and brother, but crosses the line into becoming a villain by using extreme methods to turn the public against supers by putting innocent people in danger, framing a pizza delivery guy as a patsy and displaying a callous disregard for the lives she endangered.

Backstory

Tragedy

Evelyn and her brother Winston were born the children of Mr. Deavor, the CEO of the company DevTech, and an avid fan and supporter of superheroes, who even possessed two direct lines to the heroes Gazerbeam and Fironic. One night, burglars broke into the Deavor home. Instead of hiding in the safe room with his wife, Mr. Deavor attempted to call Gazerbeam and Fironic for help. Unfortunately, this was after the Super Relocation Act was passed, and therefore, there was no response, resulting in the burglars shooting and killing him. Not long afterwards, Evelyn and Winston's mother would die of heartbreak as a result.

Becoming a Villain

With both of their parents deceased, Winston and Evelyn inherited DevTech, both using their unique skills to build the company into the biggest electronics and media firm in the world — the tech-savvy Evelyn invented and created innovative products, while Winston would use his natural charisma and people skills to sell them to the masses. Winston also inherited his father's firm love of superheroes as well, believing his father could've been saved had they not been abolished and dreamed of one day of abolishing the Relocation Act. Evelyn, on the other hand, saw her father's murder from a different perspective; instead of believing her parents could've been saved had supers been around, she saw that her father only died because of him depending on them to save the day, instead of taking the initiative to save himself by hiding in the safe room. Perceiving supers to be a danger to society by prompting people to be lazy and expect others to solve their problems, she developed a secret hatred of them, which went unknown to her hero-loving brother.

Incredibles 2

Meeting the Incredibles

Three months after the defeat of Syndrome and the Omnidroids, Winston sees his chance to bring back the supers while observing Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl and Frozone's attempt to stop The Underminer. Evelyn is drawn into his plan, and arrives to join her brother and greet the three heroes when they are summoned to DevTech. When Winston explains the story and death of his father, still blaming the Relocation Act, Evelyn notably suggests that their father could've saved himself by hiding away in the safe room, but Winston strongly disagrees. Winston then reveals his plan to use Elastigirl as an advocate for superheroes, presenting the three heroes with Evelyn's analysis of how much damage particular heroes have caused over the years, proving Elastigirl to be the least destructive and therefore their best chance at proving why heroes are good for society. With prompting from Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl accepts the offer, and is sent to fight crime in New Urbrem with a new suit and bike called the Elasticycle (the latter provided by Evelyn), while Mr. Incredible is left to watch over Dash, Violet and Jack-Jack in their new home.

Brainwashing Citizens

In New Urbrem, Elastigirl successfully saves the passengers of a new monorail, which had been hijacked and sent in reverse. Upon confronting the driver of the monorail, Elastigirl finds that he has no memory of what had happened, and a message to her written by someone called "The Screenslaver". Because of her successful rescue attempt, the public begins to respect Elastigirl, who is invited to a televised interview. However, Screenslaver hijacks the interview by brainwashing everyone near a screen, revealing his intentions to assassinate the ambassador Elastigirl had met with earlier. Fortunately, Elastigirl succeeds in rescuing the ambassador from destruction, foiling Screenslaver's plan. The next day, after being introduced to a group of new superheroes inspired by her actions (Voyd, He-Lectrix, Reflux, Screech, Krushauer and Brick), Elastigirl and Evelyn begin to bond, where they both realize how to find the (false) Screenslaver, that being to trace his signal while he is broadcasting.

Determined to catch Screenslaver, Elastigirl sets up another interview in which she does not physically appear, and, as predicted, Screenslaver broadcasts again and takes control of all who are viewing. Screenslaver rants about how superheroes like Elastigirl are all part of humanity's growing need to replace everything meaningful and important in their lives with simulations, while never rising to anything challenging or to do anything themselves. All the while, Elastigirl tracks Screenslaver down to an apartment complex, where she discovers a large amount of research and devices related to hypnotism. Screenslaver then traps the two of them in a box with distorting lights and attacks Elastigirl using a weapon that neutralizes her elasticity. However, Screenslaver finds himself still overpowered by Elastigirl and sets a bomb to destroy his apartment while he escapes. After chasing Screenslaver down, Elastigirl unmasks him to find a young man who does not remember what had happened to him. Ignoring the man's claims of being just a normal pizza deliverer, Elastigirl has him arrested for his crimes.

True Nature

Hypno-goggles

During a celebration at the Deavor estate, Helen realizes that the hypnoscreens the Screenslaver has made are also within Hypno-goggles. Soon thereafter, the goggles are forced onto her by Evelyn, brainwashing Helen. Evelyn reveals herself to be the true Screenslaver, stating that she despises superheroes and sees her brother's mission as a threat to humankind's independence. Evelyn then tricks Bob into "rescuing" Helen before the hypnotized heroine forces another pair of hypno-goggles onto Bob, putting him under Evelyn's control as well. Later, Lucius also ends up captured and put under Evelyn's control, although the Parr children evade capture themselves.

Dash, Violet, and Jack-Jack, whom Edna had fitted with a super suit, sneak aboard the Deavor's ship to rescue their parents. Jack-Jack removes the hypno-goggles on Helen, who then frees Bob and Lucius and reveals Evelyn's plan to the assembled leaders. A battle on the boat ensues threatening to crash the ship into New Urbrem. However, the supers manage to stop it and Helen apprehends Evelyn when she tries to make an escape.

Defeat and Arrest

After a brief fight (that includes a bout with hypoxia), Helen defeats Evelyn in a battle in her plane by having her sucked out of it so that she can trash it seconds later. She then saves her life with the help of another superhero Voyd, by falling after her, catching her, and bringing her down slowly to the deck of the DevTech ship.

Evelyn is later arrested for her crimes, and as she is hauled off to the police car, she tells Helen that even though she saved her, that does not make her right. Helen simply replies that she is just glad that Evelyn is still alive. Evelyn is then driven off to jail, though Violet fears that, due to her wealth, she might be back out on the street in no time rather than face a lengthy prison sentence. Whether or not this turns out to be true is not revealed.

In the end, the heroes get the last laugh when the government officially legalizes supers, after all, meaning that they can come out of hiding at last. Evelyn's plans were ultimately for naught.

Brainwashed Victims

Pizza delivery man/False Screenslaver

Voyd

He-Lectrix

Brick

Krushauer

Screech

Reflux

Elastigirl

Mr. Incredible

Frozone

Winston Deavor

World Ambassadors

Several other heroes and citizens

Quotes

“

I would resist the temptation to stretch. The temperature around you is well below freezing. Try to stretch and you'll break.(Elastigirl: So, you're the Screenslaver.) Yes… and no. Let's say that I created the character and pre-recorded the messages. (Elastigirl: Does Winston know?) [laughs] That I'm the Screenslaver? Of course not. Can you imagine what Mr. Free Enterprise would do with my hypnotic technology? (Elastigirl: Worse than what you're doing?) Hey, I'm using the technology to destroy people's trust in it. Like I'm using superheros. (Elastigirl: Who did I put in jail?) Pizza delivery guy. Seemed the right height and build. He gave you a pretty good fight. I should say, I gave you a good fight through him. (Elastigirl: But it doesn't bother you that an innocent man's in jail?) Eh, he was surly. And the pizza was cold. (Elastigirl: I counted on you.) [chuckles] That's why you failed. (Elastigirl: What?) Why would you count on me? Because I built you a bike? Because my brother knows the words of your theme song? We don't know each other (Elastigirl: But you can count on me anyway.) I'm supposed to, aren't I? Because you have some strange abilities and a shiny costume, the rest of us are supposed to put our lives into your gloved hands. That's what my father believed. When our home was broken into, my mother wanted to hide. Begged my father to use the safe room. But Father insisted they call his superhero friends. He died—pointlessly, stupidly—waiting for heroes to save the day. (Elastigirl: But why would you… But your brother—) Is a child! He remembers the time when we had parents and superheroes! So, like a child, Winston conflates the two. Mommy and Daddy went away because supers went away. Our sweet parents were fools to put their lives in anybody else’s hands! SUPERHEROES KEEP US WEAK! (Elastigirl: Are you gonna kill me?) Nah. Using you is better. You're going to help me make supers illegal… forever!

„

~ Evelyn explaining her true colors to Elastigirl before placing her under her control.

“

This is for your own good!

„

~ Evelyn trying to justify her actions to her horrified brother Winston, who instead leaps out of the plane to help the supers.

“

The fact that you saved me doesn't make you right.

„

~ Evelyn's last words before she is arrested.

Trivia

Evelyn is the first female main villain in a Pixar feature.

Evelyn is the eighth main Pixar villain who does not appear to be evil at first.

If one pronounces Evelyn's name slightly differently, her full name can be pronounced as "evil endeavor", hinting at her true nature.

Another hint at Evelyn's true nature: While Winston states their father would still be alive had supers been legal, Evelyn briefly states their father could have gotten to the safe room. It is implied they have argued on this repeatedly.

Yet another interesting foreshadowing that she is the villain is her quote "Ah shucks, I’m just the genius behind the genius.".

The Pizza Planet truck was parked in an alley near the fake Screenslaver's hideout, indicating that the Pizza Man Evelyn abducted worked there. It was shown when Helen escaped and he landed on the ground, but before he was himself again.

In addition to the truck almost appearing in every Pixar film, even Evelyn commented, “Eh, he was surly. And the pizza was cold.”

The scenes where Evelyn used flashing blue lights as her method of propaganda were controversial due to them causing seizures for viewers sensitive to epilepsy.

She was originally meant to have another brother named Nelson, who was originally going to be the main villain, but the character was cut because the creators would prefer a female villain.

Early into production, Evelyn was originally going to be an electric based supervillain named Shelectric. This idea was scrapped and instead turned into Evelyn. This allowed Nelson to be turned into He-Lectrix.

A very interesting subject worth noting is that in various LEGO sets, the Screenslaver is actually Winston instead of Evelyn. Why this is is unknown, but it was most likely a red herring for those who purchased it.